Centro Deportivo Israelita A.C. (CDI), Mexico City, Mexico Profile

About us
The Jewish Sports Center was founded in October 1950, and now has more than 18,000 members that are evolved in the most diverse activities, sports as well as social, recreative, related to culture and arts, in a Jewish identity framework.
We have excellent facilities that fulfill sportive requirements to carry out a variety of Championships. The remarkable facilities are, among others, an outdoors swimming pool, an indoors swimming pool, thirteen (13) Tennis courts, a Foot ball Soccer field, a Softball court, three multitasking Gymnasiums, Fitness Center, Restaurant, Library, Reception hall, Assembly hall, SPA with steam rooms, diverse multiuse lounges and more.
Along this years our Institution has been operating thanks to the collaboration from a group of volunteers and professionals that devoted their time with enthusiasm and creativity, to offer our Mexican Jewish Community a space dedicated to foster high disciplines with Judaic continuity philosophy and community integration.

A Great Community Center
During the first months of 1931, enthusiastic sports fans constituted the Maccabi Jewish Sportive Association, demonstrating a power to convene never seen before in the Community.
Even though, the Second World War years did not allow Maccabi to become consolidated as expected. By June 1943, a small group of friends caught a glimpse about creating a new sports institution that could agglutinate the Mexican Jewish Community members entirely.
The perseverance of this group of pioneers turned their idealism into a specific task and collecting the funds made it possible. In August 26th 1944 the Incorporation papers of the Jewish Sports Center were signed, and this same year the first 62,000 square meters land were acquired by purchase. In October 15th, 1950, the Jewish Sports Center was inaugurated with the extremely crowded attendance of the Jewish Community members.
In 1953 the first Board of Directors was set up, and the Directors were those persistent men that did not stop struggling until they achieved their goal, the Jewish Sports Center founders names will be remembered for their profound vision and leadership vocation: José Belkind, Moisés Derzavich, Jaime Dorotinzky, Carlos Fishbein, Rosendo Gervitz, Moisés Gitlin, Isaac Grabinski, Fernando Katz, Jacobo Krumholz, Felipe Libnic, José Steider, Edmundo Stern, Carlos Zapiro, Max Udinsky and Samuel Dultzin.

Sports
Only in a place like our Jewish Sports Center (CDI) such a wide range of sports offer can be found, with multiple opportunities for the entire family, from babies to senior members, with sports like Athletics, Baseball, Basketball, Diving Pool, Fencing, Football, Futsal, Artistic Gymnastics, Rhythmic Gymnastics, Judo, Karate-Do, Swimming, Aquatic Ballet, Water Polo, Squash, Tae Kwon Do, Tennis, Table Tennis (Ping-Pong), Volleyball, Sand Volleyball. We also have the possibility to participate in Slow Pitch, Softball, Futsal and Tennis.

Special Events

AVIV FESTIVAL
No doubt, that Festival Aviv (Aviv Festival) is one of the most important cultural and artistic events for our CDI community, with more than two thousand young dancers and more than four thousand people audience that year after year attend to this dancing movement, perhaps one of the biggest and outstanding in the American Continent.

HABIMA THEATER FESTIVAL
The Habima Theater Festival invites all Jewish schools and institutions in Mexico to participate with their representative groups and their interesting staging.

LITERARY DEBATE
More than three hundred writers from Junior High School, High School, and Open Categories, are convoked year after year to participate in Poetry, Story, and Anecdotal Narrative, arousing this way the interest for writing, while spreading our talented members work.
With these literary debates, some authors have become prominent and successful in the national ambit, what demonstrates the transcendent vision with this cultural event.

BLOWIE FEST
The Music is another art that has its own space through this annual event, organized by the Jewish Sports Center (CDI) Youth Committee who has achieved to have a Forum to be offered to the young ones who have this artistic ability.

SUMMER CAMPS
During summer time vacation, our Institution members can participate in our CDI Summer Camps, either in Mexico City facilities or in our State of Mexico, Tepotzotlan facilities that are a paradisiacal place pertaining to the country, where the most diverse scouting activities are practiced in a Jewish sportive context. More than three hundred children attend and socialize with this entertainment and learning program.

Our JCC is the only institution in the Jewish Community in Mexico that doesn’t belong to a specific ethnic/religious community, but it is considered a community in itself. Each community in Mexico has its’ own synagogues, schools, ritual baths, etc. according to the origin of its members. CDI does not make a distinction between origins and traditions. Every Jew can be a part of our JCC, and we have over 5,500 active household memberships which represent about 17,500 people. Our members range in age from 6 months to 120 years. We have something to offer to every single member of the extended family, from the toddler to the great grandparent. CDI Mexico participated in the Tri Center project, together with Gilo and the Sephardic JCC in New York, the Global Jewish Connections Fellows and the Biennial Leadership Seminar to Israel all under the auspices of JCC Global. CDI Mexico also finished the three years program with Orange county and Kfar Yona, in the framework of Amitim 1.0.